Obama, Biden hear personal immigration stories

5/21/13 12:44 PM EDT

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden heard Tuesday from seven young people whose lives have been affected by what they called the country's "broken" immigration system.

As the Senate Judiciary Committee nears completion of its markup of the Gang of Eight's comprehensive reform bill, members of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement shared their personal stories in the Oval Office, sitting face to face on the couches and plush chairs there.

Melissa McGuire-Maniau, a veteran, said she "never knew fear" until worrying about ICE raids on her home, as officers tried to deport her undocumented husband. Obama and Biden were "visibly moved by our stories," said McGuire-Maniau, who's involved with the Florida Immigrant Coalition.

But the conversation didn't touch much on policy, said Kate Kahan, the legislative director of the Center for Community Change, the group that helped arrange the meeting. There was "no timeline conversation" about when the House and the Senate might finally work through their bills. Obama did, though, speak of "the challenge that's before us" in passing a final bill, she said.